A Proposal on Ponte Sant’Angelo, Then Navona, the Pantheon and Trevi

He knelt at 7:07am on an almost empty bridge, with Castel Sant’Angelo behind and a light rain on the stones. An hour and a half later we had crossed half of central Rome on foot, and the rain had never once been a problem.

The route

We were on the bridge before him, looking like any other early visitor with a camera. The signal was simple, and the moment he knelt the bridge was almost empty.

From there it is ten minutes on foot to Piazza Navona, where the first photos with the ring were taken at the Fountain of the Four Rivers. A coffee to warm up, then the Pantheon, where the portico keeps the rain off. We finished at the Trevi Fountain at 8:21, when there was still room at the water, and on the way back past a warm orange palazzo.

Why a rainy morning worked

Rain empties the city. At seven on a wet morning the bridge, the piazza and the Pantheon were ours, and grey light is kind to faces.

We planned the order so the covered spots came when the rain was heaviest: the café, then the Pantheon portico, then the narrow streets with doorways to shelter in.